How to Be Human

June 1, 2013
A teenage author addresses others with autism with a mix of expressive drawings and insights from her own experiences intended to help "give your brain the right tools to reconfigure its hardware." Her advice is presented in 23 not-really-sequential, illustrated "Steps." These trace her progress from learning to "Figure Out Faces" and "Figure Out Feelings (your own first of all)" to tolerating imperfections in self and in others, balancing freedom with responsibility and, finally, accepting that "I'm just as human--and alien--as everyone else!" The pictures are interspersed throughout the text, which is printed in a handwritten-style typeface (with a nod to author/illustrator and, here, her publisher, Marissa Moss). They include a chart equating colors with moods, figures and tableaux with creatively spelled dialogue and captions, and paired "inside" and "outside" self-portraits on good days and bad. To judge from the long tribute her therapist appends, Frenz has received enviable quantities of parental and professional support from kindergarten on. Still, she's the one who had to do the work of figuring out how to make her way in the world, and readers with or seeking to understand autism will find her matter-of-fact observations both savvy and easy to absorb. A distinctive addition to the chorus of writers who are proving that "spectrum disorders" do not equal "silence." (Self-help. 10-14)

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September 1, 2013

Gr 5 Up-Frenz shares eight years of her journals and illustrations that helped her to define herself and draws back a curtain to reveal the mysteries of autism. Her introspective entries span from when she was a child of eight through her freshman year in high school. Her explanation of her confusion with "normal" daily experiences-noise, touch, personal and emotional interactions-is succinct yet sensitive, and her details are interesting and informative. She writes in her notebook's foreword, referring to a discussion with a friend about which is worse: "Anorexia is like a software problem in the brain, whereas autism is like a hardware problem." She goes on to explain how she's had to work hard to get her brain to make new connections so that "the autistic person doesn't feel like planet earth is the worst planet they could have accidentally landed on." Frenz explains that her family, therapists, and educational counselors devoted years of support while encouraging her to develop her strengths: her art and creative spirit. This astute and unique book pulls readers into a world beyond their own. The author's ability to take them along, devoid of self-pity, is refreshing. She bridges the divide and paints a picture of the value of communication, contributes to public awareness, and celebrates her achievements.-Alison Follos, formerly at North Country School, Lake Placid, NY

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